Chris McLaughlin (left) tries to tip in an Eastern miss. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
With its high-scoring import out, Hong Kong’s only recourse on Tuesday night against Blackwater was to be creative.
And creative the visitors were at Filoil EcoOil Center in San Juan, coming back from a double-digit deficit on the shoulders of a newcomer to frustrate a well-rested Bossing, 84-75, in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
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“Today we had to find other ways to score. To be honest, we didn’t find the best, but the most important thing was to win,” coach Mensur Bajramović said.
Eastern turned to replacement Chris McLaughlin for relief, and the Canadian veteran more than filled the absence of Cameron Clark, firing 32 points and 23 rebounds.
“We missed a lot of shots and didn’t play as a team. Second half, we fixed it [all], moving the ball well, and making shots to take control of the game,” the Bosnian mentor said.
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Solid Yang
Hong Kong rolled its sleeves right after the intermission, going on a 27-9 run to ease out front against a Blackwater side coming off a nine-day layoff. The guest club never looked back as the game plodded along, even burying the cosmetics squad to holes as deep as 16 in the fourth.
Glen Yang was solid for a second-straight game, chipping in 14 points and seven rebounds while Kobey Lam added 10 and 11 to help Eastern club rise to a 4-1 win-loss mark in the showcase and gain a head of steam with back-to-back victories heading into a showdown with crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra.
“We go game-by-game. I know Ginebra is one of the best teams here, and as you’ve said most popular with their good coach leading and very good players, too,” said Bajramović.
“For us, I’ll never say we’ll give up. Of course, we’ll fight. We play this game to win,” he added of the contest slated for Dec. 15. “We’ll have five days to recover, so we’ll have time to prepare and plan a really good game [against] Ginebra.”
It remains to be seen whether Clark, who previously served the NLEX and San Miguel franchises, would be back in harness for that fancied duel as he has yet to rejoin practices and remains under close observation.
Blackwater drew 41 points and 12 rebounds from import George King, but he was the lone player to contribute a twin-digit score as Sedrick Barefield and Rey Suerte added just nine points each in the losing stand that extended the club’s winless spell to three games.
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The Bossing will try to snap that skid when they face 3-0 Meralco this Thursday. INQ